Simmons closes, still far behind

Former Connecticut Rep. Rob Simmons has picked up ground in his revived bid for the Republican Senate nomination, but still trails former wrestling executive Linda McMahon by a wide margin.

Simmons currently takes 30 percent of the GOP primary vote to McMahon's 47 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday. That gap has shrunk by 10 points since mid-July, when the same survey showed Simmons behind McMahon by a 27-point margin.

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Simmons has aired two television ads and won a series of newspaper endorsements - including the backing of the Hartford Courant, Connecticut's largest paper - since resuming his campaign two weeks ago. He had previously suspended his bid for Senate after losing the Connecticut GOP's endorsement to McMahon at a May convention.

It's unclear whether Simmons has enough time to make up the gap with McMahon before the Aug. 10 primary - or whether there's enough fluidity in the race to make an upset possible. Only eight percent of likely primary voters told Quinnipiac they were still undecided about the race. Another 14 percent favored libertarian-leaning investor Peter Schiff, a lower-profile third candidate.

If McMahon succeeds in winning the Republican nomination, she will still enter the general election at a disadvantage to Democratic state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal. But Blumenthal's edge has narrowed, according to Quinnipiac, and he now leads McMahon by 10 points - 50 percent to 40 percent - as opposed to the 10-point advantage he had two weeks ago.

Blumenthal would lead Simmons by 19 points, 54 percent to 35 percent, in a general election.

The Quinnipiac poll surveyed 1,299 registered voters about the general election and polled 1,003 likely Republican primary voters from July 28 to Aug. 2.